All 19.0 - Clover The Swordswoman
After another long sea voyage, the group landed in a boat dock on the coast of Ursialla. The ruin had obviously been uncovered and stripped, as it still bore the marks of inquisitive academics. However, it appeared to be abandoned once again, so the group left the boat there, Carrot once again choosing to stay with it. Everyone else left for the outdoors, where Pierce summoned a group of horses to carry them to the town. Despite Lucca's and Cheko's reservations, they got in the saddle; Ryuji opted to jog, since he didn't tire anyway. Two hours later, they found themselves in the small town of Schlonsberge, inhabited by hobgoblin and tengu farmers. They all agreed to split up and look about, outfitting themselves to set out on foot the next day for the Vilkas Mountains, a range whose foothills were not too far from the coast and where a lot of strange stories originate. Everyone split up, and began to meander around. They all learned that the farming town seemed to have a rather fatalistic outlook; they had no healer or any divine magic at all in the town, as the gods were dead and they were at the mercy of the darkness of the world. Cress was walking down the street when suddenly a woman approached him. She was beautiful, tall and statuesque, wearing an exotic-looking set of scale mail. Her most distinguishing characteristic was her colour though: her skin was a bright yellow, and her hair and eyes were green; more oddly, her eyes lacked pupils. She greeted him politely, introducing herself as Clover, a mercenary of Arroyito who had come a long way on a mission. Cress stopped her, as it became clear that, while he could magically understand her, she couldn't make out a word he was saying, other than his name. Yelling for Lucca, the druid appeared moments later, wondering what the shouting was about. Lucca, lending her his helm of Comprehend Language, then let her explain more. Apparently, she had been chasing a terrible creature with four faces, who froze and drained all life around it. Recognizing it as the All, Lucca and Cress quickly said that she had to meet the rest of them, as they were fighting the All too. As they dragged her about, eventually finding the not-particularly-helpful Cohen coming out of a store. She explained that she had been with a team of friends, three others, who had been killed by the creature; it was some sort of scout, who had left from a city that the creatures had occupied and fortified. Apparently, it had been teleporting and then moving in a fixed pattern around the area, leaving beacons or something of the like behind before teleporting again, moving ever more southwesterly. It was only a day or two away from this town when she and her team had caught up to it; it had attacked them brutally, and only she escaped with her life, two of her comrades killed outright, the third frozen lifeless as a statue that she had no choice but to leave behind. She had run to this town, since based on its pattern, it would cross paths with it shortly. Unfortunately, none would leave and none would stand with her; Lucca and Cress assured her otherwise. They found Pierce next, who proved himself much better able to explain himself and ask the right sorts of questions than the others, who he sent off to find Victor, Ryuji and Cheko as they talked. Ryuji happened to wander by first, and Clover was immediately surprised by him, as he had the look of her kinsmen of Arroyito. A short discussion revealed that, though she looked unlike the average Arroyitan, Ryuji did as Arroyito was the motherland of Yeto, a colony long thought quite dead by Clover's education. They had a short conversation about their cultures, which still seemed to have great similarities, particularly in their religions, before they discussed the All threat. Ryuji swore that it would be stopped before it could reach the town, and went to gather the others. When everyone had gathered, they quickly determined the only plan: they would go to face the All, as they knew where it would be, and defeat it, because, as was said grimly by Ryuji, if they still didn't have the power to defeat a single scout, they had little hope of ever stopping an army. Cress was told by Victor that he had to stay behind with Virgil as he was the least experienced out of all of them, to which he complained but didn't refuse. After this had been decided, Virgil asked why Clover was yellow, to which she said that she was a changeling, and that she could change her colour as she channeled the elements. Cohen was interested in this, and mentioned that he had never heard of a changeling with those powers before. This captured Clover's attention, and she begged for any information, as she had only ever met one other changeling and deeply wanted to know more. Cohen just said that his information was mostly academic, being a well-read person; if she wanted more information, Lucca was also very well-read. Turning to Lucca, who was giving the doctor a death-glare, she asked him for whatever he knew as well; he said it was a conversation for another time. Virgil demanded her attention once more, and she showed him a punch that flared with fire, changing her skin to deep red as her hair and eyes became layers tones of orange and yellow. This intrigued Virgil greatly; she said that it wasn't something that happened until she was a teenager, and maybe if he was lucky he'd gain powers too. He didn't seem too awestruck by the changes, though, and he immediately asked Lucca why he didn't turn cool colours; when she asked, Virgil explained that most everyone could change: Lucca changed all the time, his dad's hair just turned colour a while ago, the doctor changed all the time but he had to drink something that tasted gross to do it, and Cheko was wearing a hat that changed her too. Eventually, after Virgil had revealed enough personal information of other people, everyone left once more to tend to their own business. Ryuji stayed with Clover, and the two talked more about their homelands. The next morning, the group set out grimly. They found the All floating on its alien path, seemingly unawares. Pausing for just enough time to wrap themselves in magic, the group sprang forward: Clover led the charge, followed by Victor, Ryuji, Sienna and Cohen, the latter of whom stopped short and used his firearm while the others attacked with swords and glaives. Clover in particular struck a terrible blow to it, slicing through its unnatural form. Pierce, Cheko and Lucca lingered back, past the range of the All's aura of fear; Lucca used lightning magic to strike from a distance, while the other two lingered, waiting for a chance to help. The creature retaliated with its long clawed hands, raking at those who drew too close. As it attacked Clover and Victor, its other side attacked with a burst of intense flame that Ryuji only partially dodged and Sienna couldn't escape. The paladin was seriously wounded, and the eidolon was unsummoned in a single blow. Spurred on by either his holy will or his undead determination, Ryuji struck again, his eyes glowing with the power of ascension, driving his sword into the creature's four-faced head. With his attack, the being shattered, becoming four distinct creatures that, though resembling the original, had only two faces and appeared to be each a single side of the first. They all looked slightly different: one was white, and had a calm demeanour; one was black, and its robes were tattered; the third had the appearance of even graphite, and moved with a rigid formality; the fourth seemed to be a grey mess, as though a child had coloured it in poorly with pencil. All four demanded to know why they were struggling against it. Clover would not be stopped, and swung at the messy creature in front of her. It seemed unfazed; it introduced itself as Shard, stated that she was boring, and began to wander away. The black one called itself Shred, and lunged at Victor with a blood-thirsty fury. The white one, Piece, remained still, and asked why they were fighting, since all they were doing was bringing calm. The final one, giving its name as Fraction, attacked Ryuji, but its highly-telegraphed moves were easy to dodge; it explained that its mission was to absorb everything, and that it would complete its mission. Everyone continued their assault unabated: between Victor, Clover and Ryuji, they destroyed Shred, Piece and Fraction, all which evaporated claiming that they were only rejoining All. Cohen ran after the fleeing Shard, and returned shortly informing everyone that it was dead as well. As Cheko ran in to heal Victor and Clover, both wounded badly, everyone noticed that Clover, instead of seeming weary from battle, appeared to be full of vigour. Further, she appeared to glow with internal power and her armour had become gilded and awe-inspiring to look upon. She said that she would hunt down the All, and would be honoured to join their group if they would have her; Victor said that the honour was theirs. Turning, she said that her fallen comrades weren't too far, and that she had to go see to them. Victor, Cheko, Lucca and Ryuji offered to join her while Cohen and Pierce, who looked rather shaken, returned to town to tell Cress they were alright. Pierce summoned horses for them again, and the groups were off. When they arrived at the site of the battle, they found that her two partners who had died had been disturbed and robbed. Worst still, the man who had been frozen, the man that Clover called her brother, was gone altogether. It seemed that something had dragged him away a short distance and then teleported away, leaving no trail. Victor promised her that they would find him; distraught but not defeated, Clover agreed. The two corpses, badly burned, were placed into Clover's bag of holding, where Cheko could preserve them until they could be returned to their homeland for a proper burial. With that done, they made to return to Schlonsberge. On the way back, Clover asked Ryuji why no one had healed him, as he was obviously very badly wounded. He made a face of shame, but answered that it wouldn't work on him. When pressed, he explained that he needed negative energy, and no one could cast that. With this information, the curious non-bleeding nature of his wounds, and the fact that he opted to walk rather than ride, prompted her to ask if he was technically alive, to which he replied with some bitterness, technically not. She asked if he could be healed at all, to which he said that he would when he ate, and he answered her question of 'what' with 'blood'. The conversation became awkward silence, and Ryuji subtly moved to be further away from her. Upon returning to town and resting some, Clover approached Pierce about how Ryuji ate; he admitted to not knowing, though he assumed that up until recently it was his wife, and pointed her towards Victor as likely having more information. When she asked Victor, he answered her questions, telling her that it was currently Lucca who was feeding him, that it wasn't contagious and that it was the product of a curse. They then went on to have a short conversation about Virgil, why he was there and where his mother was. When this was settled, Clover thanked him and set back out into the town to speak to someone else. She could not find Ryuji anywhere, but did eventually locate Lucca. They had a short talk about their natures as changelings, which Lucca found terribly awkward, though he was honest about himself. Clover's homeland had a very different opinion of the misplaced fey, though it seemed that the concept of a shapechanging person was as foreign to her as an elemental-wielding one was to Lucca. Clover asserted her friendship, saying that Lucca was like a brother to her; Lucca couldn't quite return the sentiment, but he appreciated the gesture and agreed to be her ally as well. Category:Advent of the All